'We do whatever they say': Yeshiva students defer to rabbis over response to IDF draft enforcement

When a group of young men was asked whether some yeshiva students wanted to enlist but refrained because their rabbis forbade it, several agreed, with one answering, “of course.”

Yeshiva students attending a massive United Torah Judaism election rally in Bnei Brak on Sunday told The Jerusalem Post that whether they would leave Israel, stay in the country, or enlist in the IDF if the next government stepped up draft enforcement would depend on their rabbis' instructions.

The rally, held two days before Israel's election, drew tens of thousands of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews under the slogan "Gather and Stand Up for Our Lives."

Central to the gathering was military conscription for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, regarded as a red line by much of the haredi community but widely supported among Jewish Israelis. An October Israel Democracy Institute survey found that 72% of Jewish respondents supported legislation requiring young haredi men to enlist.

Speaking at the rally, Rabbi Dov Landau, a leading haredi rabbinic authority, urged supporters to defend Torah study.

“Never have yeshiva students and kollel scholars been persecuted as they are being persecuted now,” Landau said.

The yeshiva students interviewed by the Post likewise described deferring to their own rabbis when asked how they would respond to draft enforcement.

Student tells 'Post' he will leave Israel if his rabbi instructs him to

“If my rabbi says to leave (the country), I’m going to leave,” Reuven, one of the students attending the rally, told the Post. Asked whether he would stay or enlist if his rabbi instructed him to, he replied that he would, “of course.”

'We would go through fire and water' for our rabbis, yeshiva student says

Dovid, another young ultra-Orthodox man at the rally, said that he and others like him would “go through fire and water” for their rabbis.

“In our culture, we listen to whatever our rabbis say. If our rabbis will tell us to go, then we'll listen to them,” he said. “We’re going to listen to them until the end.”

Shmuel, a fellow yeshiva student, emphasized that Torah study was his highest priority and that he would leave Israel if staying meant he could no longer continue his studies.

“If I need (to leave), that’s what I’ll do,” he said. “What’s more important for us is that we need to learn. And, if we can’t learn here, then we’ll learn in a different place. We’re not going to serve in the IDF because this learning is the most important thing in the world.”

Chaim, another of the students interviewed, also expressed a commitment to rabbinic authority, but argued that “the Jews doing Torah and mitzvot, to them, God gave Israel.” If the government enforced the draft, he believed the response should be to “fight it.”

Student emphasizes desire to stay despite saying he will obey rabbi if instructed to leave 

Avi, another young man at the event, emphasized his desire to remain in Israel.

“We will stay (in Israel) because we believe it's our country and Hashem will help us,” he said. Still, if his rabbi instructed him to leave, he would comply, “because he's our rabbi, and we do whatever he says.”

Despite broad agreement on following their rabbis, the students appeared to have different personal views on military service.

When a group of young men was asked whether some yeshiva students wanted to enlist but refrained because their rabbis forbade it, several agreed, with one answering, “of course.”

One of the students, speaking anonymously, expressed frustration over the situation. He feared arrest at the airport over his draft status if he tried to travel abroad, and questioned why young yeshiva students were being targeted for draft evasion rather than the rabbis whose directives they were following.